Sept. 25, 2014 MALIBU, Calif. - After leading the Pepperdine baseball team to an NCAA Super Regional appearance this past year, head coach Steve Rodriguez received a two-year contract extension that will keep him at his alma mater through the 2018 season.
"I am very thankful to be able to continue my career at such a special place," said Rodriguez, who played for the Waves from 1990-92. "The administration's commitment to me and my family, and to the baseball program as a whole, has been tremendous and I am excited to see that continue. We have a great tradition here and I look forward to helping that grow."
Rodriguez, who previously signed a four-year extension that takes him through 2016, enters his 12th season at the helm for the Waves this year. Already the second longest tenured coach in program history, Rodriguez has compiled a 369-271 (.577) record, including a 161-99 (.619) mark in West Coast Conference play. He led the Waves to three consecutive WCC titles between 2004-06 and again in 2012 and 2014. His teams have made NCAA Tournament appearances in seven of 11 seasons, including his first five years on the job (2004-08) and then again in 2012 and 2014.*
Last year, the Waves posted their most successful campaign since the program's 1992 College World Series title, making a run to the NCAA Super Regional for the first time since the round was instituted in 1999. The Waves finished the year with a 43-18 record, winning the fifth WCC title of Rodriguez's tenure. Pepperdine swept through the WCC tournament to earn a bid to the NCAA postseason, and then advanced past the regional round for the first time since 1992, going 3-0 at the San Luis Obispo Regional.
"I am so pleased that Steve Rodriguez has agreed to extend his commitment to Pepperdine baseball," said Pepperdine Director of Athletics Steve Potts. "It is my hope that Steve will be one of the select few collegiate coaches who spend their entire coaching career at one institution. We are so blessed that Steve and his family are such an integral part of the Pepperdine community."
During his time at Pepperdine, Rodriguez has coached seven All-Americans and Waves have been selected to All-WCC teams an impressive 82 times. Four of his former players have reached the major leagues - Chase d'Arnaud, Barry Enright, Eric Thames and Danny Worth -- and his players have been drafted by MLB clubs 41 times, including five last year.
Rodriguez was the starting second baseman on the Waves' 1992 NCAA championship-winning squad. He earned All-American honors from both Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball in both 1991 and 1992, and was the WCC's Player of the Year in 1992. In 2007, the 40th anniversary of WCC baseball, Rodriguez was named to a list of the conference's top 40 players in history.
Following his junior season, he was taken in the fifth round of the MLB Draft by Boston. He broke into the big leagues with the Red Sox in 1995 and also played for the Detroit Tigers that year.
He returned to Pepperdine as an assistant coach prior to the 2000 season and after four years, he was elevated to the position of head coach. Rodriguez led the Waves to WCC titles in his first three seasons (2004-06) and to NCAA Regional appearances in his first five. In 2006, Pepperdine hosted an NCAA Regional for the first time in the school's history. *(note: as part of sanctions against the University, the NCAA later vacated 115 of those wins, two losses and one of the NCAA appearances).
